New organization aims to promote historic us route 20
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| NEW ORGANIZATION AIMS TO PROMOTE HISTORIC US ROUTE 20
BOSTON, MA - October 1, 2012 - A new nonprofit organization is placing the spotlight on the longest highway in America. The Boston-based Historic US Route 20 Association public charity, with a five member board, was founded by Bryan Farr, President / Executive Director, after he completed the 3,365 mile cross-country journey on Route 20 from Boston, MA to Newport, OR in 2010. “This is one of the last great highways that you can still drive in its entirety that has not been lost to history, cut up, or rerouted to the interstates” says Farr. “Everybody's so obsessed with Route 66 when they think of American highways, that I kept thinking to myself, we have the longest intact highway in the country, that meanders through small town America just as it did in 1926 right here in our own backyards,” continues Farr “yet Route 20 has always played second fiddle, and there was nothing out there to preserve and promote its significance and history as a whole.” This is what the Historic US Route 20 Association was created to do. US Route 20 was born to be a transcontinental highway on November 11, 1926, as the zero in 20 was meant to indicate, but was cut short of its Atlantic to Pacific route when the states of Montana, Idaho and Oregon were concerned that their roads through the mountains could not be maintained in the winter months, limiting year round travel. Route 20 therefore ended at the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. However by 1940, those states upgraded their highways and by 1945, US 20 had made its way to just shy of the Pacific Ocean. Historic US Route 20 in Massachusetts can be traced back as a Native American trail used by the first settlers in Boston who explored westward in 1633. This path would soon gain the name the Boston Post Road, as finally laid out by Benjamin Franklin in 1737-54 to deliver mail from New York to Boston. Henry Knox brought fame to the road in the winter of 1775-76 when he transported and delivered a cannon and artillery from Ft. Ticonderoga, NY to General Washington in Cambridge. This increase in artillery was eventually set up in Dorchester Heights and used to force the British regulars to evacuate Boston. The Post Road was renamed the Knox Trail after this event. These trails over time would meet up with the Jacob’s Ladder trail in the Berkshires to form the Albany – Boston Road, which became marked as New England Route 5 or the “Hubway”. A few years prior to the Hubway, In 1912, the transcontinental Yellowstone Auto Trail was assigned to this same route.. These auto trails were designed by businessmen and organizations to promote travel and road improvements to connect the nation to Yellowstone National Park on one route. The Auto Trail lasted until 1930 when it fell victim to the Great Depression. US 20 even gained a new name in 1932, when it became the George Washington Memorial Highway, as a tribute to the bicentennial of the birth of Washington. Today most call Route 20 the Post Road or Jacob’s Ladder with the others almost lost to history. With the completion of the Mass Pike (I-90), US 20 has become the less traveled route. “Our goal as a nonprofit organization and public charity is to link the road, Route 20, by means of preservation and promotion of the sites, towns, buildings, culture and heritage of those places that lie from Boston to Newport”. Farr knows that this is a huge task, but hopes that those with a love of history and the highway will join the organization and form State branch associations reaching the same goals. “We aim to work with the leaders of the communities and states as well as with other organizations to place signage on sections of Route 20 designating them as ‘Historic Routes’. This will allow the traveler to get a glimpse of Americana, tracing the history and touring the old alignments of Route 20; in return giving an economic boost to the local economy on their trip whether it is local, statewide or cross country. Nationwide, the traveler can experience where the Women’s Rights Movement began, tour several presidential homes, or explore at least nine National Parks, to name a few, directly on US 20. Farr is planning many more trips along Route 20, promoting the organization, speaking to clubs and organizations about the history and the present day state of the road and coordinating events to assist with community development. He also plans on taking more pictures to be compiled into a travel/photo book that highlights this Historic route’s amazing past and present beauty to be completed in 2013. “The interstates are great for fast travel from A to B, but you miss so much traveling at 70 mph.” concludes Farr. “Take the time, and journey through history across America’s longest highway!” About The Historic US Route 20 Association: ______________________________________________________________________ The Historic US Route 20 Association is a nonprofit organization, based in Boston, MA, aimed to preserve the cultural heritage and importance of, and to promote the economic development of inner cities, small towns and rural communities along all 3,365 miles and former alignments of US Route 20. For more information visit www.historicUS20.com; find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HistoricUsRoute20 or call 617-733-5796. Memberships available. Contact Information: Bryan Farr - President / Executive Director & Founder 16 Congress St #2 Lynn, MA 01904 (617) 733-5796 email - btfarr@historicus20.com images for use & press release formats can be found at www.historicUS20.com/media-room.html File:Press Release #1 Massachusetts Gen Version Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! 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